Arriving in DRAGALEVTSI , 3km south of the Hladilnika terminus, you'll either be dropped in the centre of the village or at the Dragalevtsi chair lift (US$1 each way to Aleko), some 30 minutes' walk above the village square. Ascending to Aleko via the Bai Krâstyo middle station in about 20 minutes, the lift offers excellent views of Sofia stretched out on the plain to the north. An asphalt path winds up from the Dragalevtsi lift station to Dragalevtsi monastery , a peaceful spot enshrouded by beech woods which serves as the summer residence of the Bulgarian patriarch. There's a fourteenth-century church - the only part of the original monastery that remains - and cells around its leafy courtyard, which during the nineteenth century sheltered the revolutionary Vasil Levski. The monastery comes alive on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption ( Uspenie Bogorodichno or more colloquially Golyama Bogoroditsa ), when families from far and wide spend the day picnicking in the grounds or praying to the Virgin, the monastery's patron.

If you're in need of refreshment, there are a couple of good restaurants in Dragalevtsi serving traditional Bulgarian food: the Vodenitsata , right beside the chairlift terminal, and the Vodenicharski Mehani just below it.

From Dragalevtsi, you can catch bus #98 to SIMEONOVO , the next village-suburb to the east, and terminus of the Simeonovo gondola (US$1.50 each way to Aleko), which gives great views of the Sofia plain.